The Play-In stage of IEM Katowice 2023 has ended and the teams are now competing in the main stage. However, an interesting trend was observed in the Play-In stage. 

A total of 39 maps were played during the Play-In of IEM Katowice. The most popular maps were Inferno, Anubis and Mirage, each of which was played 7 times. Anсient was the rarest, being played only 2 times and banned 17 times. Anubis made it to the list of the most popular maps but the distribution of rounds between defense and offense is really surprising.

Attack is stronger than defense

If you consider the distribution of rounds won on Anubis within the Play-In, the score will be in favor of T, that is 100:90. This is a very rare situation for CS:GO. The only map in Play-In capable of having a similar statistic is Mirage with 89:87 in favor of T, but even here the sides are almost equal, and on Anubis there is a clear advantage for the attacking side. A similar situation is present on Ancient, but the sample size there is too small.

There may be two reasons for this. The first reason is obvious, but may turn out to be incorrect - Anubis is a map with an advantage for the attacker. No matter how many analysts tell us about the theoretical domination of CT, the numbers tell us that they are wrong, and T wins more than 52% of the rounds. This version can be verified in time - the meta will settle and the percentage of rounds won will become constant.

The second reason is related to the first - the meta on Anubis has not yet settled, so attacking is easier to play. This is intertwined with the not very high level of play of the teams in Play-In. The map is still being explored, every week players find new grenades and positions. And any poorly studied map becomes attack-oriented due to the simplicity of the game. It is quite possible that in a couple of months the CT will start winning more rounds and the situation will change dramatically.

Why is Ancient almost never played?

Ancient was only played 2 times in the Play-In - what turns teams away from this map? Probably the main problem for the teams is that Ancient has shown itself to be a defensively oriented map. Because of this, the team that started on defense had a significant advantage.

Only a few Play-In teams were willing to take that risk by choosing this map.

What does this statistic say?

These data cannot be considered as a sufficient sample for far-reaching conclusions. It can be considered as intermediate statistics for IEM Katowice 2023. However, it already shows some interesting trends. For example, the popularity of Anubis. The map has clearly caught the attention of professionals.